Written by Review last updated: 08/17/2011
If you take a look around the internet you will see that The Safe Cig has been getting some really great comments made about it and is considered one of the top rated E cigarettes. For this reason I really had to give them a try. They also have a reputation for having great customer service as well, and any time I’ve contacted them either for help or information they have been quick to reply and do more than they need to. The guys at The Safe Cig were also the first to bring E cigarettes to the United States back in 2006, so they have plenty of experience in the field, more than any other brand.
Starter Kit Deluxe
When I first got my Safe Cig through the door and open it up I was faced with some really nice packaging. Up until the end of 2010 The Safe Cig’s packaging left quite a lot to be desired, it was very basic and really wasn’t appealing to the eye. This was one of the reasons why I put off buying one of their kits for such a long time, they just looked really cheap and didn’t give me that much confidence regarding their products. But now they have brought out their ‘A’ game. The packaging is clean and looks great, you can tell they have spent time and money developing and designing their boxes and packing. To match up with their new packaging they have given their website a face lift as well, bringing it right into the 21st century. It is pleasing to the eye, easy to get around and full of helpful information.
Inside The Box
Old Packaging
When you open up the Safe Cig box the first thing you will see is a little leaflet that says “Start Here” on the front, this is your quick start guide, telling you everything you need to know to get started using The Safe Cig, how to build it up, how to recharge your batteries and so on. There is also a full user manual in there too, which goes into a lot more detail regarding everything and also has a troubleshooting guide if something goes wrong or doesnt quite work right and contact details for the company.
Once you get past those two guides things get a little bit different as there are three different E cigarette starter kits to choose from in the Safe Cig range. They are as follows.
Starter Kit
Cost – $69.95
This kit contains -
- 1 Battery
- 1 USB Charger
- 1 Wall Charger
- 5 Refill Cartridges
The “Starter Kit” is aimed at social smokers, the people who only like to smoke when they are out with friends or are having a glass of wine or a beer, so it is not for people who smoke all the time.
Starter Kit Pro
Cost – $89.95
This kit contains –
- 2 Batteries
- 1 USB Charger
- 1 Wall Charger
- 5 Refill Cartridges
The “Starter Kit Pro” is aimed at people who would be classed as light to medium use smokers, the people who smoke 10 to 15 cigarettes a day. The 2 batteries means that you are not going to run out of power while you are at work or out and about.
Starter Kit Deluxe
Cost – $137.95
This kit contains –
- 3 Batteries
- 2 USB Chargers
- 1 Wall Charger
- 1 Car Charger
- 1 Safe Case
- 10 Refill Cartridges
Safe Case
The “Starter Kit Deluxe” is the best selling starter kit that Safe Cigs sell and has been made for heavier smokers, the people that smoker more than 20 cigarettes a day. The 3 batteries mean that you are never going to run out of power for your E cigarette and the Safe Case gives you somewhere to store your spare batteries and cartridges when on the move. You can choose from four colors for this case, black, blue, white and pink.
Personally I went for the Starter Kit Deluxe, I have been using electronic cigarettes for quite some time now and have managed to get into a routine where I don’t use it quite as much as I used to, but I wanted to see what The Safe Cig had to offer. I was never that heavy a smoker when I used to tobacco either though. You are able to save a few dollars on your purchases if you use the discount code – GOSAFE – this will give you 5% off of all your purchases.
Batteries
Whe you start taking all of the parts out of the box you will come across the batteries first. These has been designed to look just like cigarette papers so that you feel at home when using the E cigarette. There is so much more to the batteries that you get with The Safe Cig though. These are the most advanced batteries out of all the E cigarettes on the market. Inside the battery there is a “Flow Sensor” which automatically powers the E cigarette on and off, this saves up to 99.9% of the batteries power. As soon as you finish taking a drag from the Safe Cig it powers down to save energy, but within milliseconds of you taking your next drag it has powered back up again and is fully operational. It gives you totally seamless use, you don’t need to wait at all for it to power up after it has been idle.
The battery itself is also very advanced. The designers at The Safe Cig have spent a great deal of time and money developing a new source of power. The result is that their new battery lasts 50% longer than it previously did, and also considerably longer than many of the other electronic cigarette batteries on the market. They have utilized a 3.7 volt ion lithium battery, the very same type of battery that you will find in the latest and best smart phones. They claim you are going to get 5 hours of smoking time from these new batteries. I tried to work out how long the battery would last on my own. I found that the battery would last roughly the same length of time as a refill, generally. So if you smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day then you will need to carry a second battery if you are out and about.
And that is not all, along with the Flow Sensor and the ion lithium battery there is a PCB micro circuit board inside the battery too. This basically means that the battery has a “brain”, this monitors the battery and the activity of the refill cartridge to ensure that you get the because vapor possible from your Safe Cig every time.
It is clear to see why this is the most advanced E cigarette battery on the market. The Safe Cigs has spared no expense when developing it.
Cartridges
Just like the other big E cigarette brands like Green Smoke, and now Blu Cigs, The Safe Cig employs a two piece design, if you don’t know what this is it is quite simple, the electronic cigarette only has two parts, the cartomizer ( cartridge and battery in one unit) and the battery. Some other brands use a three piece design, which consists of the battery, the cartridge and a seperate atomizer, these three piece designs can lead to a lot of mess and lost tempers. With the Safe Cig the atomizer is built into the refill cartridge. It is well known that the two piece design is a lot more reliable and produces a much better vapor and all round smoking experience. Not only that but it means a lot less messing around when you trying to change cartridges and you wont be caught out by a broken atomizer when out of the house without a spare.
Duration
I tried to use the Safe Cig like a regular cigarette, taking 7 to 10 drags at a time to see how long the cartridges last. Most of the time I found that I was getting about 18 to 20 cigarettes worth of smoking out of a single refill. This isn’t how i would normally use it though, I tend to take 3 or 4 drags at a time, this generally satisfies the cravings.
Refill Flavors
Safe Cigs have not been caught up with making weird and wonderful flavors like many of the other brands. They have concentrated in making the finest “smoking” experience they can. As such they only offer three flavors, Traditional Tobacco, Menthol and Classic Tobacco. They do however offer six different nicotine strengths that we can choose from. 24mg (non filters), 18mg (full flavor), 14mg (mediums), 11mg (lights), 6mg (ultra lights), 0mg (nicotine free), these stepped reductions are great if you want to cut down your nicotine intake. They have also worked hard to keep the price down too, a pack of 5 refills will cost you only $12.50.
I really like the Menthol refills, more than I like menthol cigarettes, but I find that you need to work them a little harder than the tobacco flavors to get a good hit from them, there also seems to be less of a throat hit off of them as well. But I still use them now and then.
Out of the two tobacco flavors my personal favorite is the Classic Tobacco option. I find that it has a stronger, more tobacco like flavor to it. In fact I think that this flavor is perhaps the closest to a real tobacco cigarette i have tried, and I’ve tried a fair few different flavors. So if you are looking to get a really genuine tobacco smoke from your E cigarette then this is the one to go for.
It is not only the battery they have been working hard to improve, a lot of money and time have been spent creating their new refills too. They have been listening to what the customers want and have reacted. The new cartridges last longer and create a cleaner vapor. They worked with a team of skilled CNC technicians, using the best machines in an effort to create the most consistent quality possible, every cartridge they make will be exactly the same. The connectors are silver plated so that the connection to the battery is the best and cleanest possible. The cartridges also have a new feature that no one else uses, this is the “Catcher”, in the past I have experienced liquid nicotine leaking out of the cartridge and into my mouth, the Catcher is designed to stop this, so far it was worked perfectly for me. This is one of the biggest problems i have with some more expensive E cigarettes, nicotine liquid in my mouth, it is truly horrible.
All of this work has really been worth it, when you take a drag from the Safe Cig you get that great feeling on the back of your throat that you get with tobacco, though as a I mentioned above the Menthol cartridge doesn’t give as big a throat hit as the tobacco flavors. Not only do they taste and feel great though they produce a fantastic vapor, I would say it was pretty close to Green Smoke, which is known in the E cigarette world as being the device to beat for vapor production. There really is not a lot to fault with the Safe Cig.
Improvements
The one real issue I have with the Safe Cig is that the different flavors and strengths of cartridges are not marked in any way. Before you unwrap them the packaging has got “Classic 18mg” (for example) printed on it, but once you throw that packaging away you’re on your own. The cartridges themselves do not have any markings on them, so if you’re like me and have 1 of each flavor opened then you are not going to be able to tell the difference – with the exception of menthol, which you will be able to smell quite clearly. This is something the guys at The Safe Cig need to have a think about. Even if it was just a tiny marking to differentiate the different cartridges, that would help quite a bit.
Summing Up
When you think about it, Safe Cigs are perhaps the best value for money electronic cigarettes out there. There is so much technology that goes into every single one but they still cost less than many of the competitors. When I think about it like that then I really think that The Safe Cig is a better buy than Green Smoke and many of the other brands. So if you are on the market for an E cigarette that gives you a genuine smoking experience then give The Safe Cig a try. If in the unlikely event that you don’t like what you get then you can send it back and get a refund, before 30 days. Not only that but if you do buy a Safe Cig and love it then a few months down the line something goes wrong with it, it doesn’t matter, as you get a lifetime warranty with all their products, faulty batteries, chargers and so on will be replaced.
Thanks for reading, if you have any feedback about Safe Cigs then please leave a comment. And remember if you are going to buy Safe Cigs and you want to save 5% then use the discount code – “GOSAFE” – at the checkout.
Click Here to visit the Safe Cig Store.
